Welcome! My name is Jerry Hanna and this is my Genealogy webpage.
I am a fourth generation Oklahoman on both sides of my family but I have roots in Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and I'm sure other states as well!
Further back my roots go to Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Prussia, Norway and ????.
I also have a number of Native American ancestors but none that I can document well enough to assign to a specific tribal group.The information on this page is incomplete, most of the families are listed but I have many additional names and dates to add later.
Some of the information yet to be added I have not verified and some I have verified but haven't had time to enter into my GEDCOM program.
I hope to continue adding information as time allows!Below is a list of some of the families I'm researching sorted into groups according to which of my grandparents that family is connected.
|
Silas M. Hanna August 22, 1903 July 10, 1978 |
Christena D. Williams February 26, 1909 August 19, 1999 |
John W. Chappell January 1, 1885 January 17, 1961 |
Mabel E. Bailey/Prather November 24, 1895 June 13, 1968 |
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Hanna Brady Bruton/Brewton Burton Cassidy/Cassiday McCormick Riggs Whetzler/Whetzel Williams (2) |
Williams (1) Anderson Boyer Nelson Pettis Womack |
Chappell Bartholomew Beatty Cauley Curry Lee Passmore Smith |
Bailey Enlow Grove King Mitchell |
Note: there are other families listed in my Surname index beside the ones listed above.
View the Hanna Valley Guestbook
Family Photos
Chappell family photos.Bailey/Mitchell/Matherly/Prather family photos and information.
Indiana>Missouri>Oklahoma Williams family photos.
Cemetery Photos
Photos from the Passmore cemetery in Velma OK.Photos from the Whitehouse cemetery in Arnett AR. and Riverside cemetery in St. Paul AR.
Photos from the Nelson cemetery in St. Joseph MO.
I have more family and cemetery photos that I will be adding at a future date.
Misc.
Eliza Jane (Cauley) Passmore's Application to the Dawes Roll for Indian Citizenship
Texas Ranger Captain Johnny Williams
Photos of the Hanna Castle and other places in Scotland
A brief history of my branch of the Hanna family
Misc. Williams Family Documents
Misc. Nelson/Pettis Family Documents
Misc. Passmore Family Documents
David S. Hanna: The Williams and Hanna families
Genealogy!?
People give me funny looks sometimes when I talk about genealogy, I guess I understand why. To someone not bitten by the bug it probably does seem sort of tedious and uninteresting.
So every once and awhile I have to sit down and think about "why" I'm interested in it. Here are a few things I've come up with, some are a little less serious than others so please don't be offended if I poke a little fun at our hobby.First, I've got a big ego, just like everyone else!
I tend to look at my family tree as being this huge cast of characters who all came together to produce "ME".
Because of this I tend to think in terms of ancestors not descendents.
I don't think of any one of my Great Great Great Great Grandfathers as having hundreds of descendants of whom I am but one.
No, I think of him as being just one of "MY" 32 Great(X4) Grandfathers!Second, I'm a collector.
Once you start thinking in terms of numbers like "32 Great(X4) Grandfathers" then it's very easy to slip into the collector mode.
The problem with collector mode is that you can lose sight of the fact that your 32 Great(X4) Grandfathers were people just like yourself and not just names to be filled in on a chart. Still, it is very satisfying to fill in the blanks on that chart!
When you do finish collecting your set of 32 Great(X4) Grandfathers try not to yell "Bingo"!
Of course one set leads to another and soon you're on your way to completing your set of 64 Great(X5) Grandfathers.Third, it's a challenge.
This may be part of the collecting aspect or it may be part of the ego thing, but it is always a real thrill to finally find some small nugget of information about that mysterious Great Great Granddad nobody knew a lot about. And if you came across that nugget by plowing through hundreds of census records or reading thousands of queries on the internet then it's all the sweeter to finally discover it.Fourth, occasionally you find something really interesting.
I remember when I discovered that one of my Great(X4) Grandfathers was a Captain in the Texas Rangers and that he had been killed by Indians. I couldn't stop thinking about that for weeks!
Then there was the time I learned about a Great Great Great Grandfather who had three mistresses, or the Great Great Grandmother who died at the heartbreaking young age of 23, or the Great Great grand-uncle who died in the Civil War or any of a dozen other ancestors who lived interesting lives.
At some point all of my ancestors lives became interesting to me, be they farmer or housewife, because I started thinking about what life must have been like for them and their lives in context to the times in which they lived.Fifth, it strengthens/creates family ties.
I'd always believed that I came from a small family. I had one group of first cousins who lived across the country from us and that was about it, or so I thought!
In the last few years since I have became hooked on genealogy I have found more relatives than I could ever have imagined.
Almost every week I email or write a cousin or two about some aspect of our family, and hardly a week goes by that I don't find a new cousin. Sometimes they are fourth, fifth or sixth cousins but they are still my family.
And of course I find these new cousins because, like me, they are into genealogy.
Which means we automatically have something interesting to talk about, unlike some of those family get togethers I've attended in the past where everyone either stood around in uncomfortable silence or gossiped about the relative who didn't make it to the reunion!
Truthfully, the conversations we have now are still gossip but now it's about Great Great Great Grandfather so-and-so and instead of calling it gossip we call it research!And finally...
Sixth, it helps put my life into perspective.
I'm now old enough that most of my grandparents generation and a large part of my parents generation are gone.
My grandparents have been gone for a long time and I sometimes have trouble remembering them. But I've found that working on my family tree helps me remember them and the generations before them who they cared about and the generations before that.
All of which makes me feel a part of the big picture and also makes me think that maybe some day far in the future some descendant of my family will remember me.
Not because I've done anything notable ( which I haven't ) but because I'm part of the family.
( "Hanna Valley" is the name of the land on the Colorado River in Mills County Texas that my Great Great Great Grandfather Jesse Hanna settled back in 1856.
The Scottish spelling of the surnames Hanna and Hannah is Hannay.
The background of this page is the Hannay Clan Tartan, the Hannay Clan motto "Per Ardua Ad Alta" roughly translates to "Through difficulties to the heights". )Please e-mail me at
if you have questions, comments or corrections.
Hanna Valley and Colorado River, Mills Co. Texas
photo taken looking down from the Regency bridge.
The Hannay Tartan
